I got more fussy about warped records when I doubled down on record cleaning methods and noticed how many records don't lay truly flat on the platter- using a Monks, rather than VPI, RCM. I used the Vinyl Flat for a little while, it could work, but time consuming and very few benchmarks for time and temp-- I used an early one with a Groovy Pouch™ and single temperature-- some people got orange peel from either overheating or over-torquing the nut or both.
I eventually bought an Orb- a Furutech branded DF-2. I'd say if I guesstimate duration of heat cycle correctly based on type and severity of warp and thickness of the record, I have a roughly 85% success rate, which I consider pretty high.
Some records, even when "de-warped" will not be playable--the groove takes a bend where the warp was, and flattening it does not put it back "on track"---
Why so many warped records? I buy a lot of used records, many from the early '70s- period of much change in jazz--and a real low point for vinyl in the States, as everybody knows. I found a seller with a stash of Nathan Davis records on Segue- bought several from him, sealed. Pressed on the thinnest vinyl imaginable- makes Dynaflex look like a truck tire. Did get these flat but I watch my linear arm hunting and wandering--the record is out of round. Which makes me pause when you consider how expensive cartridges are today.
Replace the record- maybe-- I've certainly bought more than one copy of some records in the quest for a better copy (condition, surface noise, etc.) Some of these records are not so easily replaceable.
The machine has, for me, paid for itself.
Oh, I remember asking an online seller to confirm a record was not warped. He wrote back saying "you'd have to be an idiot to sell a warped record on ___." Guess what? (It wasn't a hard to find record).